


Overture

by TipsyEpsy



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Magic Bads and Necromancy AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-28 00:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14437242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TipsyEpsy/pseuds/TipsyEpsy
Summary: After reaching the train station of the town where De La Cruz first rose to fame, Miguel has at least 8 hours until he can catch the next train, so what is a young aspiring bard to do other than practice? He has Dante for company, and they are all on their own…Or are they?





	Overture

The station was not at all what Miguel had expected when he’d first read the stories behind De La Cruz’s rise to fame.

Honestly, he had expected to see something lavish and colorful. Decor of immeasurable beauty, with musical themes that served to celebrate the man that had gained notoriety right after arriving in town!  
Instead the young Rivera boy and his loyal familiar found themselves standing in a decrepit and deserted old station.

It was fairly late at night, their train having been the very last to leave the station, so the deserted part was self-explanatory.  
Nothing, however, excused the dirty and unloved state of their surroundings.

It was like the staff had long since given up on taking care of the building, as there were various pieces of trash, huge cobwebs and even a few scurrying rats.  
The walls were covered in graffiti, the usual crude writing you’d expect from public bathroom stalls and even a few school walls.  
There was no love to be found here, not even for a musical genius like Ernesto de La Cruz.

Miguel sighed as he peered around, the guitar and backpack strapped to his back weighing him down ever so slightly as he turned around.  
The next train wouldn’t come until 8:20 AM and it was only just nearing midnight. He’d have to wait at least 8 hours until he could leave once more to wherever the next train he boarded took him.  
Now, Miguel wasn’t a cowardly boy. He’d done his fair share of spooky things with his cousins and friends, like sneaking into old abandoned houses in the neighbourhood or playing hide-and-seek in the alleyways at night on Dia de los Muertos, but this?  
Staying really late at night in some sketchy train station all by himself?  
This was completely nuts. And Miguel really didn’t consider himself loco enough to stick around where he couldn’t get help if something bad happened.  
But, then again, he wasn’t really alone was he?  
He had Dante with him.

The young boy looked down at his canine companion, smiling when the familiar looked up at him with that goofy look he always had. Miguel laughed as the magical xolo dog jumped up to give him a big slobbery poochy kiss, patting him as a reward.  
“Ok, ok, I get it Dante. I don’t need to be so nervous…” he said in between giggles as the familiar gave a satisfied bark in agreement. “But…” and Miguel’s smile fell after he spoke up once more “It’s hard you know…”  
The train station may have not been an abandoned house or an alleyway, but it sure was dark and spooky. It gave Miguel bad vibes, like he knew something bad had happened here once upon a time, many moons ago.  
“Mamá always said I shouldn’t stand around train tracks at night. The winds carry bad things, like gossip and ghost stories…” Miguel whispered to Dante, not quite sure if the other really understood what he was saying but finding some comfort in doing so.  
Whether the Xoloitzcuintli did understand or not, Dante did look towards the rails, cocking his head from side to side in curiosity before barking in confusion.  
Miguel blinked at this before shrugging. “Bah…I really need to keep calm. It’s just 8 hours, it can’t be so hard to wait it out…”

Looking around, he noticed a bench that seemed clean enough to sit on. Moving towards it, Miguel deemed it satisfyingly clear before calling Dante over.  
With the xolo sitting beside him, Miguel calmly took out some food he’d packed for the journey and shared it with his canine companion before eating his own share.  
They could wait out 8 hours, no problem…Except, what to do until then?

The first 10 minutes were spent looking around the station, at old flyers and posters that served as decoration. They were far too faded to make out what they said, but the designs were still somewhat dischernable.  
It didn’t take long for Miguel to grow bored, however, and soon the fear he’d initially felt was replaced by a gnawing boredom that made the young aspiring-bard to pace about or kick at stones.  
“This is the worst!” Miguel whined as he kicked up some dust in frustration. “There is nothing to do!” In hindsight, he should have brought something to entertain himself. His console, a book…Anything! But then again, running away had been a bit of a last resort.  
He’d only had enough time to pack up some clothes and food before he could slip away in the night unnoticed.

Spinning around to desperately look around for something to do, Miguel’s eyes fell upon the white skull guitar. The guitar he’d taken from Ernesto de La Cruz’s crypt.  
He stared at it for a few seconds before he smiled, an idea popping into his mind.  
Of course! Why hadn’t he thought of that before?! He could practice!  
Sitting back down on the bench and grabbing the guitar, Miguel felt a little more at ease.  
Fingers plucked on the guitar chords, making sure they were finely tuned, before the young Rivera boy began to think of a song to play.  
There were many he’d like to play, like Un Poco Loco or even The World Es Mi Familia, but Miguel quickly settled on Remember Me, Ernesto’s most iconic song.  
“I wish you weren’t the only one who wanted to hear me play Dante…” Miguel said as he prepared himself to play, his gaze falling on the goofy looking Xoloitzcuintli. “But hey, I could never ask for a more loyal friend.” he grinned when Dante’s tail began to wag.  
Soon enough the familiar wouldn’t be the only one excited to listen to him.

The notes came naturally to him, as if the music was in his very own veins. The upbeat song reverberated through the station, the strumming of guitar chords echoing off the walls, followed by Miguel’s voice as he began to sing.  
He’d practiced for so long, teaching himself how to play through the vhs tapes he’d collected that depicted Ernesto’s most prominent roles in movies, all of which displayed his skills as a self-taught guitarist and bard.  
The melody made the young boy relax, his eyes closing as he fully immersed himself in the song. He could almost imagine himself playing for an awed crowd, up on a shining stage with millions of stage-hands and fans drinking in his glory as he serenaded them all.  
To share his gift with the world, to inspire them all? That was what he wanted most as a bard!

The station didn’t feel so lonesome after all. The music filled it nicely with sounds, and if you looked past the trash and the crude writings on the wall, it wasn’t so bad.  
It was almost like a personal debut stage of sorts, just like this city had once been for De La Cruz himself.  
Maybe it was a sign that he was destined for this, for music! Something his family could never understand…  
All was right in the world.  
Until it was not.

Throughout his performance, Miguel ignored the environment around him. Dante’s howls and barks as he “sung” along were just as distracting as the sounds of the skull guitar’s finely tuned chords, so he wasn’t entirely to blame for not hearing the soft cracking sounds that were coming from nearby. They were very quiet at first, after all.  
What was hard to ignore, however, was the sudden bursting of tiles, a thunderous crack like thunder, as something forcefully punched through the very ground a few feet in front of him.  
With a sharp yell, Miguel seized playing the guitar, fumbling so as to not drop the instrument as he dodged the flying debris that had been propelled into the air.   
Dante too yelped and hopped back, before beginning to bark at the object of his newly gained attention.  
No…That wasn’t an object…Hand! It was a hand!   
And not just any kind either. Yellowed bones covered in filth, a skeleton’s hand, and it was moving!

Both human boy and xolo dog watched as the hand clawed at the ground, seeming to be desperately pulling itself out from the soil, like what he’d seen in those really old horror movies filled with brain eating zombies. The kind his mother scolded him for watching late at night when he should be sleeping because it was a school night.  
But that recollection didn’t really matter at the moment, as the hand, creepy as it was on its own, was followed by an arm, equally made of bone, which was then followed by a messy mop of hair and then a filthy grimy skull. The tiles were crumbling away like dust, despite how durable they’d seemed beforehand when Miguel had been kicking up dust and stones during his initial exploration of the station.  
Miguel’s mood began to plummet, turning from shock to full blown terror as he watched a skeleton rising from the dead right in front of him.   
The worst part? There was no one else around to help.

Backing up, Miguel found himself craning his neck to look up at the thing, which seemed to grow ever taller as it rose to its full height. It was covered in so much dirt and dust that it made his eyes water, and god! Every joint it moved seemed to creek eerily, like how his cousin Abel had a bad habit of cracking his knuckles just to freak out Rosa (Which usually got him scolded by abuelita in the end).  
The point was…THERE WAS A DEAD GUY STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM AND MIGUEL HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.

The aspiring bard kept his, considerably wider, eyes on the skeleton, before a glimmer of light in his peripheral caught his gaze.  
Miguel’s eyes quickly darted to the side, towards his right arm which was still clutching the neck of the skull guitar. To his surprise it was glowing faintly, like it was infused with pure magic.  
And then it hit him…His magic! The music!  
Oh god he was in SO much trouble…

Dante barked in alarm, which caused Miguel to look away from the guitar and back at the skeleton. To his horror the thing was moving towards him, arm outstretched.  
Miguel’s face drained completely of blood, knees ready to buckle under his weight, as he watched the living deadman reach out for him.  
It moved it’s jaw, seeming to be trying to say something only to pause when silence was all that came out.  
Miguel took the momentary confusion to bolt away. Like heck he’d deal with this!

Now, the station wasn’t small, but it wasn’t too big either. There were the benches on the platforms overseeing the rails, the stairs that lead to the exit, the bathrooms and the ticket booths. All of which were darkened due to a lack of functioning lights.  
If Miguel were to run, he’d end up outside and then what? Ask for help because a dead man was following him? A dead man he’d accidentally brought to life?  
No, if he asked for help he’d get in trouble with the authorities. Necromancy was strictly prohibited and could lead to a life sentence. Miguel would have to deal with this on his own.  
He had to be smart, he had to hide from the skeleton and wait it out until he could catch the train.

Rushing up the stairs, Miguel looked back. Dante was following, yipping in fright and worry, the skeleton right behind him. Cursing under his breath, Miguel picked up the pace.  
Where to hide? Where to hide?!  
Reaching the top of the stairs, the young Rivera boy looked around, gaze darting quickly as he scanned for a place to hunker down in.  
He looked from the ticket booths to the bathrooms. He wouldn’t be caught dead hiding in a bathroom stall, specially not a filthy abandoned bathroom stall where he could find anything you’d expect from a train station public bathroom.  
Mind made up, Miguel ran for the ticket booths, diving into the very last one and pulling Dante along before clamping a hand over the pooch’s muzzle, shushing him as quietly as he could.

It felt like an eternity as the young boy and his familiar sat under the desk of the ticket booth. Knees shaking and body curling in on itself, Miguel tried to keep his breathing quiet while he pet Dante behind the ears in an attempt to keep the dog as calm and quiet as possible.  
He could hear the skeleton’s bones rattling as it moved around, probably looking for him. It wasn’t loud per say, but it was all Miguel could hear at the moment through the pounding of his heart.  
This was a bad situation, and the horror of it was still very fresh on Miguel’s mind.  
For god’s sake, he’d just committed a crime!  
He could already imagine the police hunting him down…And his familia being so very ashamed of him! Well…More than what he imagined they already were anyway…

The sound of bones clacking together and hitting stone gradually faded, as the skeleton seemed to lose interest in the area, leaving Miguel and Dante in silence.  
Gulping, Miguel took a deep breath before deciding to peek over the booth window. As soon as he got up, he fell back with a yell. The skeleton was right there staring down at him.  
“AAAAAAAAGH!” Miguel pushed himself back, trying to give himself as much distance as possible, only to scream louder as the skeleton slowly entered the booth, hands raised and an odd look on it’s “face”. “NO! GET AWAY! HELP!”  
Dante barked loudly, looking from Miguel to the skeleton before yelping and trying to pull on the boy’s pant leg.  
Miguel shrieked in return trying to pull himself free before the Xoloitzcuintli lost his grip. A startled yell escaped the boy’s throat before the back of his head connected sharply with the wall, sparking stars in his vision before all color, lights and sound were swept away from his senses.  
Miguel slumped down, eyes fighting to stay open, his suddenly very tired gaze turning upwards where he could see the skeleton now kneeling in front of him, fumbling and opening and closing it’s jaw rapidly as it tried to fruitlessly speak.  
Funny…He could almost see concern in the skeleton’s eyes, before consciousness slipped away from his grasp completely.

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to write THAT SCENE of my AU. And thanks to some constructive criticism from my friend Brit, I decided to extend Miguel and Hector’s first meeting just a little bit for the heck of it. Who doesn’t love some good overreacting?  
> Hope you guys enjoyed! And you can find more information about this AU if you follow this link back to my tumblr blog: http://mwolf0epsilon.tumblr.com/post/171971724315/coco-magic-bards-and-necromancy-au


End file.
